Rajapaksa family run the state airline ‘SriLankan’ gobbles up Rs. 60m a day

The SriLankan Airlines incurs a loss of nearly Rs. 60 million a day, reports by the Central Bank point out.The airlines’ losses are increasing by the year and the increase of losses stood at 31 per cent in 2012.SriLankan cites increased prices of aviation fuel, economic downturn in Europe and delay in expanding and modernizing its fleet of aircraft as the reasons for its continued losses.However, other international airlines earn huge profits, with Emirates recording a 43 pc increase in its profit to 887 million USD in 2013.

According to economists, an absence of a proper institutional vision and inexperienced persons holding top positions are the reasons for this grave setback by the SriLankan Airlines.

Its chairman is Nishantha Wickramasinghe, who is the brother of first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa, and has failed even at the GCE O/L exam.

The airline has an eight member director board, including Shamindra Rajapaksa, son of speaker Chamal Rajapaksa.